Andrew Vincent has been converting the doubtful with his brand of frank, simple narratives and witty wordplay since he started laying songs to tape years back as a student at Waterloo. As enthusiasm grew for his songs, AV began playing out in local cafés and such, and before long, To Thine hit the streets on cassette. As popularity for the cassette grew, To Thine found its way to disc while AV made the move to the Capital City and began preaching to the people with voice and five-string guitar. With time, AV longed to rock and thus steered toward electric tendencies, enlisting various Ottawa ne'er-do-wells as his backing bands. The Pirates were soon formed, with Bryan Curry on bass and Scott Terry on the traps, breathing new life into the Ottawa rock scene. In the past few years, AV & the Pirates have been hailed and rehailed as one of the city's best, igniting dance floors with an arsenal of modern classics to which most folks know all the words. The boys dropped I Love the Modern Way in the summer of '04, their most focused rock collection to date. Andrew has also been keeping busy working on his own solo material, and we're pleased to announce that he's got an album just waiting to be unleashed to the masses. Rotten Pear , his fifth album to date, will be released on November 22nd in fine celebratory style with a show at Ottawa's beloved Elmdale Tavern. In the meantime, you can catch AV playing the free Kelp/Mint Records afternoon BBQ as well as the Kelp Records Showcase at this year's Pop Montreal. He'll also be hitting the stage for the Kelp Showcase at the Halifax Pop Explosion on Oct. 24th. Don't miss out on these shows!